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Averted Trope
'Averted Trope:' A missing''' cliche' whose absence the characters do not notice. 'Example: * A bug planted in a spy movie is small, camouflaged and hidden, like real ones, therefore ignored by the protagonist, when fictional listening devices are usually big, planted openly and have blinking red lights, so the audience can see them. '''In Brother Muscle: * Brother Muscle and Ultraperson's code names do not end in "-man," "-woman," "-boy," "-girl," "-lad," "-lass," nor are they'' Dark Age of Supernames, such as "Grimblade," "Death Blood," "Blade," "Storm," etc. Nor do they start with "Captain," "Black," "Dr.," etc. They rejected some of these' superhero names as "too corny," sexist or "wayyyy too butch." (See also '''Subverted Trope.) *Neither Muscle nor Ultra wear red, blue and yellow costumes, typical of superheroes, preferring purple and green, usually worn by supervillains. Purple is Muscle's favorite color and Ultra wears green and silver, inspired by a laundry soap commercial. They change costume in public restroom stalls, since phonebooths were replaced by box-on-a-stick payphones in the '70s and cel phones in the '80s. Neither of their Alter Egos wear glasses, like Clark Kent. Both are equally powerful and in the same age group, unlike traditional adult superheroes with kid sidekicks. Neither carry boxy chrome rayguns, '''like Antiheroes in The Nineties did. .Unlike most other superheroes, who were orphaned in gangland slayings, Ultra and Muscle's parents are all alive. '''Tin Tyrant '''Pundit wears silvery '''powered armor, instead of the more common black worn by other supervillains, such as'' Dark Officials (military/occult oppressive rulers, common in fantasy). Neither he nor his accomplice Puissance do an' Evil Laugh or tell their '''origin stories. They try to Just Shoot Them, instead of Death Traps on Aguilera, Roberto and his partner Francisco, because they are in the Assassination business. Bmup2p14.jpg|Tasha tells Freddy her origin. Bmup2p24.jpg|Tasha becomes Ultraperson. Bmup1p10020.jpg|Freddy and Steve in drag Bmup1p2012.jpg|Freddy gets mugged at Garfield High. Bmup1p12.jpg|Freddy becomes Brother Muscle. *Freddy, Tasha and the Gay/Lesbian Group are all Club Kids, but are in couples and do not use Ecstasy, like the other Club Acid customers. Nobody has HIV, gets gay-bashed, becomes a prostitute or dies, etc., like in older LGBT movies. None of Freddy's attackers at Garfield High are'' Jerk Jocks,'' since they do not wear jerseys or carry sports equipment. He was not placed inside a locker or given a "wedgie," either, as high school bullies typically do in teen movies. Tasha never meets any mean girls, cheerleaders or gossip, either. Neither encounter a Sadist Teacher, since as Tasha's Harrison High class demonstrates, the faculty have no control over the Delinquent students. Teen Pregnancy ''does not come up, either. Though Gang Bangers appear in the story, Freddy and Tasha do not join them, but bust them instead in their superhero identities. Freddy and Tasha are TV Teens but not an ''All-American Boy or Girl Next Door, since Freddy is a Black Transgender comic book collector who lives in The City With No Name '''and Tasha is an Extraterrestrial BBW Black lesbian who watches women superheroes on TV and goes clubbing with her girlfriend. Both are in '''Rave Culture, not hip-hop, like Black teens are usually shown in '90s media. *Reasons for these omissions include The Law of Conservation of Detail, a cliche in which non-essential information is not shown on film. The graphic novel depicts Superhero Origins, so typical high school and human family life is less important than crime, Freak Lab Accidents and Alien Invasions. Mysterious Past '''is another reason, a trope in which data such as the Joker's real name and past are reserved for later surprises or not yet created by the author. This is partly why Tasha's family have names and own a restaurant but Freddy's parents are just "Mrs. and Mr. Hartmann" and have unknown careers. '''Realism is another reason, since the story is based on the author and her childhood friends, '90s news stories, parapsychology and ufology. Future Aguilera's 2013 is not shown, because a time-traveling spy would not tell civilians of their native period, as it would be classified. Muscle and Ultra do not carry boxy rayguns or kill villains, like Nineties Antiheroes because they are Flying Bricks, not shell-shocked Ninja mercenaries. Political correctness explains the protagonists's codenames, subcultures, middle class functional families and friends' average lives. It also partially explains the lack of survivalist militia or Muslim terrorist villains. Despite high-profile hate crime cases such as Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. and the Rodney King police brutality case, the author never personally encountered hate crimes or police brutality during The Nineties, perhaps because the former cases occurred in small towns, where militias live; the latter case happened under a bigoted city police chief. The creator grew up in a big city with a black mayor and police chief at the time and earned a green belt in karate from a lenient Islamic feminist sensei (TVTropes Wiki, 2006-18; Wikipedia, 2006-18; Lathan, 2013). Bmup2p10.jpg|Tasha beats Pundit and Puissance. Bmup1p19029.jpg|Freddy and Tasha change back into civilian clothes. Bmup1p11021.jpg|Gay/Lesbian Youth party at Club Acid. 'Acknowledgements:' *Lathan, D.V.,'' Brother Muscle & Ultraperson #1-2'' (1993; rev. 1999; publ. 2013) *''TV Tropes Wiki'' (2006-18) Category:Metafiction Category:Media